The cruiser limped to a narrow cove at the far end of the Barton Ranch shoreline. Harry and Marcia jumped from the docked boat and sprinted to a scientific station overlooking the inlet. Ed and his men stood ready, several armed with Winchester 30-30s.
A huge cage capped the cove like an aviary. The side bars were thick iron sunk in concrete. The roof was perforated sheet metal supported by cross members. A man with a rifle stood guard on top.
Harry pointed. “That roof’s a weak spot.”
“The creature’s not known for climbing,” Marcia said.
The now-familiar mix of sonar pings and beacon whine sounded from the equipment bench.
“It’s coming,” she said.
The creature torpedoed into the cove waters, leaving a domed wake. Harry unholstered the Model 29 while Ed’s men cocked their rifles.
“Drop the net!” Marcia said.
A submarine net unspooled from the cage wall at the cove opening, sealing off access to the bay. The creature came out of the water, hands on its ears when not pawing the air, seeking the beacon speaker outside the cage.
“Turn off the beacon,” Marcia said. The whine stopped.
The creature staggered onto the small margin of beach within the cage, shaking off the beacon’s effect, and then slowly tested the bars. A ranch worker approached the cage, aiming his Winchester. The creature grabbed the barrel, pulling the man’s arm between the bars. The man screamed as claws raked him. Ed and two other men pulled the worker away from the cage, leaving the gun inside the bars.
The creature bent the Winchester’s barrel and threw the weapon aside. The bulging eyes looked in multiple directions, assessing the cage and the enemies beyond.
“Good. He’s calming,” Marcia said.
“No, he’s not,” Harry said. “He’s thinking.”
The creature dove into the water. A moment passed, and the creature breached before diving again into the inlet’s depths. After another pause, the creature repeated the breach, arcing its entire body out of the water. The next stretch of silence broke when the submerged creature generated a new domed wake, swimming at terrific speed to the end of the cove. The creature surfaced a few feet from the back side of the cage, its muscular arms stretching out, and webbed membranes unfolding between triceps and chest. The creature soared to the top of the cage, seizing the bars and bracing its feet against them. It folded its legs, and in one explosive jump, the creature reached the underside of the roof. Its talons punctured the sheet metal.
Plating crumpled in the creature’s fists as it traversed to a cross member. Dangling from the rod, the creature swung like a trapeze artist and slammed its feet into the sheet metal. The guard on the roof got off one shot. Shrapnel from the damaged metal roof struck him, ensuring he would not shoot again. The creature swung again from the cross member, snapping the bar, and emerged through the hole. Standing on the roof, it roared at its captors below.
“José is still up there. No shooting!” Ed said.
Harry broke from the group and climbed the access ladder. The creature turned toward him as he came up. Hooking his left arm on the top rung, Harry aimed for a spot near the knife wound and fired, making the creature spin and fall to its knees with the impact.
Harry climbed up onto the roof and took a wide stance, preparing to pump a bullet into the crown of the monster’s head. The creature wedged its hands into a gap in the sheet metal and yanked. The roof section under Harry’s feet tore loose, sending him sprawling and the Model 29 skidding out of reach.
As Harry tried to stand, the creature lurched toward him, grasping its torso. A backhand from a scaly arm sent Harry airborne. He rolled to a stop near the creature’s escape opening, close to the unconscious José.
The creature came on, its strides more deliberate, both hands raised to rend its adversary. Harry crawled away, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, with no way to reach his Smith & Wesson or José’s Winchester before the creature was upon him. His fingers touched and curled around an object as gusts from the creature’s air-breathing organs fell hot on his neck.
Harry turned and looked up for only a moment at the monster bending for the kill. Then he thrust the broken cross member into the creature’s gunshot wound. The monster bellowed in agony as Harry stood, driving his lance deeper. The creature seized the cross member with both hands, lifting Harry off the deck, before ripping the bar out of its body. Harry recovered quickly and scrambled for his revolver.
The creature turned and fled, increasing speed like a locomotive, running away from Harry toward the edge of the cage at the cove opening. Spreading its gliding membranes again, it made a stupendous leap over the submarine net barrier toward open water.
Harry missed with his final bullet as the creature cleaved the surface and disappeared.
Harry descended the ladder, exhausted and battered. Marcia tended the wounds on his face while Ed and his men fashioned a rope harness to lower José.
“Now he’s a flying fish?” Harry said.
“Mutation, like the tougher purple scales.”
Marcia moved to a workbench. As Harry chugged from a canteen, she examined the fragment from the creature’s mysterious collar. She ran a Geiger counter wand over the artifact, and the radiation detector clicked repeatedly. “The metal from the creature is radioactive.”
Harry swallowed. “Great. How long before we die?”
“It’s not at the danger level.” Using tongs, Marcia dropped the fragment in a specimen container and sealed the lid. “It’s like the giant ants that attacked Los Angeles three years ago. Radiation transformed them. I think something similar happened with the creature.”
“Took a couple of battalions to wipe them out. It’s time for us to call the military. The Coast Guard should be going after the Gill-Man with depth charges and 40mm guns.”
“Not yet. We’ll rebuild the cage. We have to try one more time.” Marcia’s eyes pleaded. Harry slammed down the canteen and walked away.
***
In the late afternoon, Marcia, dressed to go out, spoke into a phone.
“Yes, darling, I’ll see you soon.”
She ended the call and dialed an intercom line. A phone rang at the cove wharf.
“Yeah?” Harry said.
“I have to leave. How’s the cruiser coming?” Marcia said.
“We caught a break. The starboard shaft was bent, but the prop housing’s still intact.” Harry glanced at the ranch hands working on the boat. “She’ll be able to run by this evening. We can reposition the two remaining buoys whenever you’re ready.”
“And the cage?”
“Ed has the rest of the crew welding scrap metal and rebar to the roof.”
“Will it be enough?”
“Probably not. The Gill Man’s wounded and the beacon sets him off, even if he can’t resist it. Given those things, I don’t think any cage in the world can hold him.”
“We can modulate the frequency, maybe produce a less violent reaction.”
“You’re an optimist.”
“So was your brother. He’d be proud of you.”
The sentiment didn’t move Harry. “Hurry back. We take one more shot at this. After that I’m sending an SOS, and you can keep your money.”
He hung up and returned to the cruiser.
***
At the south end of the bay, Marcia turned onto a back street in Redwood City, her Eldorado convertible out of place. She raised the power top with the first thunderclap, and a sudden storm rinsed the grimy block to a twilight sheen.
She parked at an industrial building and went inside. The entryway was dark, dusty, and silent.
“Tom?” Marcia called out.
“I’m here.” Dr. Tom Morton stepped into view, handsome, baritone-voiced, nearly as tall as Harry. He took Marcia in a familiar embrace.
“What is this place?”
“I wanted to meet somewhere out of the way. I know you’re keeping the Gill-Man’s return quiet for now. When Ed called me about the capture attempt today—” He paused, then looked down at her. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I should’ve been there. I want to work with you again, be with you in every way.” Tom gave Marcia a lingering kiss.
“The sonic beacon works. Poor Jennings. He was right about the creature’s neural responses. And you were right about reversion to amphibian form. We have so much to learn.”
“Yes. Let’s study the creature correctly this time. We’ll use the beacon again.”
“My men are rebuilding the cage at the cove—”
Tom became evasive. “No—we, um—” He coughed. “It should be brought to another location.”
Marcia withdrew from the embrace. “What other location? Tom, this is my project.”
“It’s bigger than you … and me. But we need the beacon—”
“We? What is this we business?”
Marcia pulled the Polaroid out of her purse that showed the collar affixed to the creature. “Harry was right. There are others experimenting with the Gill-Man. And God knows what you’ve been doing. No, I won’t help you.”
“Marcia, please—”
A man in khakis and a graying crewcut stepped out of the shadows. “That’s enough.”
Tom turned toward the man. “Give me more time.”
“Your charm has worn thin, Doctor. We’ll do it my way.” The man gave a hand signal and two more men appeared, both toting M3 submachine guns.
***
At dusk, the wharf phone rang. Harry answered.
“Yeah?”
A muffled voice responded. “Officer Callahan, we have Marcia Barton. You will use the sonic beacon to bring the creature to a specified location. If you don’t do what we say, she’ll die.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“You’re not giving the orders.”
“Put her on, now!”
Marcia came on the line. “Harry, I’m all right. I’m sorry—”
She abruptly stopped, and the muffled voice returned. “If you notify anyone, she dies. If you come with no creature, she dies, and so do you. The ghosts are in the machine.”
Harry paused. “Understood.”
“Thought you would. Berth 42, two miles south of the Port of Redwood City. Midnight.”
The line went dead.
###
NEXT IN CHAPTER 5: Harry goes to Marcia’s kidnappers and discovers a nuclear nightmare in a place the locals call Silicon Valley!
The mutated Creature from the Black Lagoon exists in the same universe as the irradiated giant ants from Them. Big, bigger, and now biggest: Mr. G with his hefty pals…
Jason William Karpf does not own the Dirty Harry and Creature from the Black Lagoon franchises or any of the related characters. Warner Bros. is the owner of the Dirty Harry franchise. Universal Studios is the owner of the Creature of the Black Lagoon franchise. The story also features cameos from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea characters, a film and a TV series released by 20th Century Fox.
Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink wrote the original Dirty Harry screenplay. Harry Essex, Arthur Ross, and Maurice Zimm wrote screenplay and story for Creature from the Black Lagoon. Milicent Patrick designed the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett wrote the screenplay for the theatrical version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Many talented writers created additional characters and dramatic situations for the Dirty Harry sequels, the Creature from the Black Lagoon sequels, and the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea television show, some of which are also used in this story.
“Creature from the Dead Pool” is a work of fan fiction, intended strictly for entertainment and education, and is outside the original canons. The work is distributed for free, and the author does not make a profit from it. Warner Bros., Universal, and Fox have not produced, distributed, or authorized this story.
Videos, still images, and other communications related to “Creature from the Dead Pool” are fan art, curated audio and visual containing the works and likenesses of a vast number of talented professionals. Jason William Karpf claims no ownership or rights for this content, and he does not make a profit from it. Still images are AI-generated.
“Creature from the Dead Pool” and related materials reflect Jason William Karpf’s lifetime love of the aforementioned franchises. His transformative works are presented in tribute.
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